Elizabeth attempted to have Mary secretly murdered rather than publicly executed, but her jailer refused on grounds of conscience.

46:41royals throughout medieval history have traditionally been eliminated. So, maybe you know, she could be drowned in a butt of Malmsey or suffocated with a pillow or, you know, a hot poker stuffed up her bum. I mean, whatever. All these kind of various methods that have been used to remove unwanted members of the royal family. But she needs someone to do it. And she is kind of expectant that

47:02someone will step up to the plate and answer her her needs. Because listeners may remember back in 1584, large numbers of her loyal subjects, so the Privy Council, members of Parliament, um particularly loyal members of the general public, had all signed something called a bond of association. And this bond had been deliberately targeted at Mary. And people who signed it had committed themselves, should Mary ever be found

47:30guilty of plotting against Elizabeth, to kill her. And essentially, it had formally committed them to a kind of lynch law. And this bond of association had been bundled into the parliamentary act. So, Elizabeth can say to people, well, this is now the law of the land. Why aren't people acting on it? And so, this is why she is prevaricating even once the guilty verdict against Mary has

47:53been brought in. She's essentially hoping that one of the signatories to that bond of association will do what they have pledged to do and quietly and silently kill Mary without Elizabeth having to sign her death warrant. >> What I don't understand is why though she I mean A why has it taken so long and why we've even got to this point and B you know this sort of oh I hope that

48:18somebody because of the bond of association will privately kill Mary, you know, all this. Why didn't she 2 years ago say to um Lord Burghley can we not just get rid of her please now? Like you know, you can you you must know poisoners, crack on and do it. Richard the 3rd style or getting rid of Edward the 2nd or getting rid of the Duke of Clarence or whoever. It's so

48:37easy to do. >> It's a great question and it's something that Mary Queen of Scots herself often pondered. So back in the days when she was able to communicate with the the French and Spanish ambassadors, she she wrote to them and said, "I think this is what's going to happen. I think I'm going to be poisoned. I'm going to be smothered by a pillow or whatever. This

48:52is what I suspect." But it doesn't take to think. You know, we've been casting the the Privy Council and the Protestant establishment in quite a dark light in this series. You know, they're practicing dirty tricks and um operating under the radar. But they do I think have quite a principled sense that the operations of the law should proceed. They are by definition very devout Christians and they don't want to just commit a murder

49:22below the radar. They think that justice should be seen to be done. Um and it's important for the reputation not just of the Privy Council, not just of English justice, but of their religion. That they are seen to be doing the right thing and I think that that ultimately is is the reason why. And so this is why even as Elizabeth is digging her heels in still and saying I'm not going to